Posted on 07/10/2009 9:40:09 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Over 240 Chinese detained in Russia
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2009-07-10 07:12
China Thursday called upon Russia to guarantee the rights of Chinese business people and workers after reports said more than 240 Chinese had been detained in recent days.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Beijing had not yet received official notification from Russia about the reported detentions.
But media reports said Russia's Federal Migration Service apprehended 150 Chinese "illegal immigrants" on Wednesday during an inspection at Moscow's Cherkizovsky Market.
Authorities reportedly said 50 of those detained had overstayed their visas and would be expelled. Around 100 others were given 10 days to leave the country after losing residency privileges because they had lost their jobs.
On Tuesday, 16 Chinese were detained on suspicion of breaking Russia's residency regulations, China News Agency said.
Another 77 were detained the same day at a protest against the closure of Cherkizovsky Market. They, too, are understood to be facing deportation.
The market, which was established in the early 1990s, is the biggest daily wholesale market in Russia, and a place of business for about 80,000 Chinese.
Police ordered the market to close on June 29 after inspectors found a series of sanitary and storage violations. The closure followed a call from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for a crackdown on smuggling at the market after about $2 billion of "smuggled goods" were seized in a raid last September.
Russia's state television has claimed the market's multimillionaire owner, Telman Ismailov, laundered billions of dollars through the facility, the Moscow Times reported.
Liu Yanli, a trader from Harbin, Heilongjiang province, at the market, was concerned about the closure.
"I'm debt-ridden," Liu told Beijing Youth Daily.
Experts said the detentions for allegedly breaking Russia's residency laws and for protesting against the closure of the market will not negatively impact the relationship between the countries, but may tarnish Russia's image among Chinese. "From Russia's perspective, it's right to clean up the market and fight smuggling. But the detentions will leave a shadow in the hearts of Chinese businessmen," said Wan Chengcai, a researcher with Xinhua World Studies Center who recently visited Moscow.
Gao Xiyun, an official with the Chinese embassy in Russia, said during a July 6 meeting with Chinese businessmen and immigrants that China was opposed to smuggling.
Qin added: "We would like to remind Chinese businessmen in Moscow to abide by local laws and regulations."
Ping!
but but but what about their rights.....
The Chinese could literally walk north and settle Siberia...there’s nothing the Russians could do. Lots of Chinese are “homesteading” farmland in the remote reaches of East Russia.
A way of border control when you have little manpower.
Russia has enough problems. They would actually benefit from having hard working non-alcoholics immigrate.
Well now that is something we should do here.
The pull of Chinese culture is extremely strong, and the rise of global communications means that the Chinese are much less like to assimilate. It would be pointless to let the Chinese in just so that Russians can be serfs in their own land. This is the reason the only country with a mass immigration policy left is the US. Australia, Canada and New Zealand all do skills-based immigration, and family reunification schemes are severely limited.
When Putin and his thugs enrich themselves by seizing private sector wealth they use criminal courts rather than guns.
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